


Flatline

by WynterTwylight



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Compatibility, Computers, M/M, Robots, Spaceships, artificial intelligences, crossing electronic planes, deep space exploration, inter-dimensional energies, meta-abilities, quantum physics, temporary training on the Waverider, the Legends are good teachers, the food is still terrible, vibing into computers, vibrational blasts, vibrational manipulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-09-12 07:58:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9063289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WynterTwylight/pseuds/WynterTwylight
Summary: After a crippling attack leaves most of the worlds' water unusable, the Justice Society of America starts a space program to prevent a second attack right at its source. Recruits to the Program come from top colleges and undergo acuity tests that assess compatibility with others, but also compatibility with something called the Nexus, a visual manifestation of the digital framework of information in computers and the internet. Someone who is Nexus-Compatible  can sync up their base resonance with that of the dub of a computer, and transverse the electronic plane to grab, steal, or manipulate information. Basically, they can go inside the internet and do shit with it, and the Program deems this a useful skill. At the end of initial testing, students are Paired.  Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon are one of these Pairs, and this is the story about how they go to space and save the world.





	1. Nexus Terminology

**Author's Note:**

  * For [buckybunnyteeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckybunnyteeth/gifts).



It’s entirely optional to read these definitions before starting this fic. I explain all of these terms in the text and you can go ahead to the next chapter whenever you’d like.

If you’re sticking around for good ol’ “chapter 0”, know I made this list for two reasons.

  1. My updates will have time in between them so in the event that you’re reading a chapter and may have forgotten what a term meant, you can just look it up here.
  2. There are a lot of details that don’t have a place in the fic, so I’ll put those descriptors here so that if you’re curious you can read them. If not, that’s fine too.



If you are here to look for a definition, all the vocab words that are specific to this fic are in **bold** so you can either scan or control/command+F it.

There's a lot of sciencey stuff in this fic and I spent a while planning the technical science behind Barry and Cisco's powers and how they translated to Nexus-Compatibility, and then what Nexus-Compatibility even _was_. Part of the journey of writing is translating all those crazy ideas and abstract concepts into something that _makes sense_ and my goal is to make sure it makes sense to you. Since it could be disorienting and difficult to understand, I figured the best option to make it easier for you is to write a handy glossary.

Welcome to the Journey <3

-Wyn

 

* * *

   

**Acuity Tests ( _n._ ) **The umbrella term for the two examinations all students go through that are used for Pair Screening. They include a mental and a physical portion.

**Chronodynamics ( _n._ ) **– Also referred to as **Quantum Chronodynamics** , Chronodynamics is a field of quantum physics that focuses on special topics associated with the intricacies, rules, and dynamics of time.

**Door of No Return ( _n._ ) **Colloquially referred to as **The Door** , the Door of No Return is the point when Pairs decide whether they will move forward in the Program after passing Paired Training. A choice to walk through The Door cannot be taken back, hence the moniker.

  * The Door itself isn’t something that moves around from university to university, it merely refers to a physical representation of a metaphorical point of no return and often times it is a door. In some universities, The Door could be an archway. But even in cases such as this, students and potential Pairs will call it the Door of No Return. Usually on the other side of The Door is a vehicle prepared to transport the Pair to the next level of training.



**Deployment ( _n._ ) **A seven year period wherein a Pair is sent to deep space to gather intelligence on Xenomorph activities. Very rarely do Pairs come back in one piece.

**Dub ( _n._ ) **The name given to the low, slow, beat of the Nexus that forms one of its basic vibrations. Scientists have theorized that the Dub is something akin to the heartbeat of the Nexus, but are unsure where it comes from.

**Flatline ( _v._ ) **A phenomenon that occurs in individuals with the meta-ability to manipulate interdimensional energies. When these individuals overuse their powers, they expel all of the vibrations from their body, causing them to appear clinically deceased to the outside world due to a lack of all vital signs including but not limited to brain activity and heartbeat.

  * Flatlining itself comes from the _flat_ line of an electrocardiograph that emerges after a patient has passed.
  * Flatlining is rarely fatal, despite how grim the situation may appear in the moment. Scientists don’t understand how flatlining works since it defies all rational thought. Unfortunately there are so few people that experience the phenomenon that it’s difficult to obtain enough data to draw conclusions. The few individuals who have died during a flatline—only determined by their body growing cold and rapid onset of rigor mortis—overused their powers regularly, possibly suggesting that subsequent flatlines increase the chance of death during a flatline.
  * How long a flatline lasts is determined by how quickly the atoms in an individual’s body can regenerate a steady, normal, appropriate vibration. It’s thought that the speed of recovery from flatlining may have a positive correlation with Nexus-Compatibility scores, but there is little evidence to support this hypothesis.



**Fuzz ( _v._ ) **Often phrased as **fuzzing out** or **to fuzz out** , fuzz is the term given to the process of exiting the Nexus, either willingly or by force since the process of de-syncing appears as blurry visual distortions.

**Mental Acuity Test ( _n._ )** One of the two screening tests students take. The Mental Acuity Test assesses problem-solving ability to sort into categories for cognitive thinking styles. It ensures that potential members of Pairs have the mental capacity to grasp life-threatening situations and to properly deduce conclusions from given information for proper threat assessment.

**Nexus ( _n_.) ** The visual manifestation of the digital framework of information in computers and the Internet. It often appears as a three-dimensional grid with information coming across as recognizable physical objects in space.

  * When someone patches into the Nexus, they’re syncing up their base vibrations with the base vibrations of the Nexus. This includes the dub, but multiple vibrations are required to effectively sync. Once a Switcher has patched in successfully, the Nexus vibrations are relayed by the brain and appear as a visual manifestation of an otherwise binary realm. Without this relay the individual in unable to comprehend the Nexus. Individuals with low Nexus-Compatibility have issues syncing their vibrations or do not have the ability to relay those vibrations.
  * Switchers can grab, access, and manipulate information while in the Nexus and can travel by using the grid’s X, Y, and Z axes.
  * Usually a Switcher discovers they can access the Nexus by accident, although some can be taught.
  * Switchers in the outside world remain still even though they may be moving over great theoretical distances inside the Nexus. 



**Nexus AI** **( _n._ ) **An artificial intelligence that aids a Switcher in navigating the electronic planes of the Nexus. Occasionally, they may provide other uses as well. 

**Nexus-Compatibility ( _n_.) ** A descriptor given to anyone who can access the Nexus.

**Nexus-Compatibility Score ( _n._ ) **A **NC Score** is measure of one’s ability to access the Nexus on a scale of one to one hundred. Someone who has low Nexus-Compatibility may not be able to access the Nexus at all, while someone who has high Nexus-Compatability may be able to access the Nexus in a matter of seconds.

  * To obtain an NC score, one must run a linear analysis of vibrational meta-activity against the universal vibrational mechanisms of the Nexus. The resulting regression produces a number between one and one hundred that serves as the standard measure of someone’s Nexus-Compatibility.



**Nexus Terminal ( _n._ ) **A computer that is primarily used for patching into the Nexus.

**Pair ( _n._ ) **A group of two people who are highly compatible after being assessed by Acuity Tests and passed Paired Training. An ideal Pair is in sync, can work through issues with the other, and can handle life-threatening situations well as a group. Pairs are the basis of the program for multiple reasons.

  * Pairs keep each other occupied, entertained, but most importantly, two brilliant minds are better than one.
  * In deep space deployment, Pairs can sleep in shifts, work together when problems arise, and in the worst case scenario, if one dies the other stands a chance at completing the mission instead of the mission automatically being terminated.
  * Pairs are rarely recommended by someone not part of the Program, though it has been known to happen.
  * Pairs may be involved romantically due to high compatibility, though there are many pairs that never become attracted to one another. Both are successful in the field.



**Pair Screening ( _n._ ) **The process wherein officials of the Program review the performance of Potential Pairs during Paired Training and assess whether or not the two students have the opportunity to become a Pair and continue their training.

**Paired Training ( _n._ ) **Potential Pairings are picked after the scores of the Acuity Tests are reviewed by officials in the Program. Paired Training is a short period where the potential Pairs are asked to complete tasks of varying difficulty involving both Nexus-Compatibility and direct combat. If Paired Training is passed, the two students can choose to continue in the Program as a Pair, or split and withdraw.

  * Paired Training primarily assesses how well two students who—most of the time—have never met one another can work together and fight in a variety of situations. While both students may be high scorers on both Acuity Tests, they may not make it through Paired training if they can’t figure out how to work together and get along. The most successful Pairs are those that can isolate personal issues of the moment—such as arguments, insults, or other distracting matters—in exchange for completing a task.



**Patch ( _v._ ) **Often denoted as **patching in** or **to patch in** , patching is the term Switchers use for syncing up their vibrations with those of the Nexus in order to enter it. When someone is patching in, they’re going “inside” of the computer on a vibrational level.

**Physical Acuity Test ( _n._ ) **Half of the Acuity testing that students undergo for screening for potential Pairings. Students undergo training for Krav Maga and Jujitzu for combat, strength training and flexibility for muscle building, and running, biking, gymnastics, and swimming for agility and breath control. At the end of training, all students take the Physical Acuity Test.

**Potential Pair ( _n._ ) **Two individuals who are compatible according to the results of their acuity tests.

**Program ( _n._ ) **Started by the Justice Society of America, the Program seeks the best and the brightest college students and places them in Potential Pairs according to the results of their acuity tests. After proper training, the Program sends successful Pairs into a seven-year period of deep space exploration to gather intelligence on the Xenomorphs. The Program was established after the first Xenomorph attack in an effort to prevent a second attack before it begins.

**Rogue Switcher ( _n._ ) **An individual who can access the Nexus and keep another Switcher from fuzzing out. This occasionally results in death of the trapped Switcher if their Nexus-Compatability Score isn’t high enough _or_ they aren’t fuzzed out manually by someone on the outside.

  * Rogue Switchers are often hired to steal information.
  * Because of Rogue Switchers it’s considered dangerous and unadvisable to patch in alone.



**Switcher ( _n._ ) **A slang term for someone with Nexus-Compatability.

**Synesthesiatic Response ( _n._ ) **A term referring to the sensations a Switcher experiences upon entering the Nexus. **Synesthesia** is a phenomenon where one or more senses cross over in response to one stimulus. Phrases like “hearing pink” and “tasting silver” are examples of this.

  * Often someone accessing the Nexus will experience multiple instances of this as a reaction to the sudden sensory overload that occurs during the process of patching in. The quicker a Switcher patches in, the stronger the synesthesiatic response.



**Temporal Training ( _n._ ) **Training that Pairs undergo directly after they pass Paired Training and walk through the Door of No Return. Temporal Training occurs in the Temporal Zone—an area outside of time and space—and lasts for three years. After Temporal Training, Pairs are deployed. Temporal Training is designed so that Pairs save time and get a proper education while not affecting the greater timeline. To an outsider, it’s meant to appear as if students are Paired and then immediately deployed.

**Xenomorphs ( _n._ ) **The name given to the alien race that attacked Earth Prime fifty-two years prior to the start of this fic. When a Xenomorph is killed, their body releases highly toxic radioactive plasma, which is only manageable in small amounts. While the Xenomorphs that attacked Earth Prime were entirely wiped out, it’s known that there are more in existence.


	2. Testing 1, 2, 3

"Allen, you're late," General Singh's voice booms in Barry's ears. _Shit shit shit,_ he thinks, adjusting his unique red tripolymer uniform as fast as he can without drawing attention. Singh knows of his… abilities, but no one else here does. Not yet.

Barry takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry, sir!” He shouts, staring straight ahead.

“Prove it, later, Allen,” Singh dismisses, then turns to address the one hundred students standing before him.

"You were all chosen based on the results of your mental and physical acuity tests. You are the best of the best, that is clear." Singh told them. "You’ve been Paired based on those acuity results. You've received your assignments and tasks, now _go_."

Barry looks around quizzically, did he miss the memo or—

“Allen!” Singh is suddenly _right in front of him,_ and Barry has to shove back his startle response in lieu of not kicking the General.

“Yes, Sir!” Barry shouts, snapping to attention.

“Since you were _late,_ you missed your assignment.”

Barry freaks out, anxiety running through his veins like his speed, did he really miss the opportunity of a lifetime because he was la—

Singh chuckles, “You’re with Ramon. Get to it, Allen."

Barry almost dips into the Speedforce in trying to reach his partner just to get away from Singh. Ramon would eventually know of his… abilities, of course, but Barry doesn’t want to deal with that now.

Barry finds him easily. Ramon is a mechanical engineering student, and even outside of the physical and mental acuity tests they all had to pass to get here, Barry had shared some classes with the other man.

“Hey,” Barry says after walking up and tapping his partner on the shoulder, “I’m Barry Allen,” He holds out his hand.

“Cisco Ramen,” Cisco chokes, “ _Ramon,_ Cisco _Ramon,”_ he corrects hastily and takes Barry’s outstretched hand, “Nice to meet you. I think I shared Dr. Thawne’s class with you? Introduction to Chronodynamics?”

Barry lights up. He hadn’t thought Cisco would have remembered _him._ They never spoke. Barry just remembered Cisco for his hair.

“Yeah,” Barry blurts out, “Exactly. That class was… difficult.”

“Remind me to tell you my theory of how Dr. Thawne might be from the future.”

Barry laughed, “Okay, I will.”

“It’s just a theory, but it makes sense,” Cisco explains, “like how if you read _Wuthering Heights_ with the presupposition that Heathcliff is a vampire, the book still makes sense—"

“—I absolutely did that!” Barry exclaims.

"—and while it was a boring book—" Cisco continues.

“—something had to make it exciting!" Barry finishes.

As Barry and Cisco—The Ramon-Allen Pair—head off on their first task, Dr. Tina McGee, the scientist charged with checking Barry and Cisco for compatibility, scribbles down notes.

These two were promising.

Very promising.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fifty-two years prior to the present day, an alien race known as the Xenomorphs attacked Earth Prime. After devastating nearly a third of the United States and a large part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Justice Society of America took the initiative to create an exploratory space program to deal with future alien threats. Because of the attacks, parts of the Americas are no longer accessible without full radiation suits, and won’t be livable for another 150 years _minimum_ , if the experimental cleanup procedures prove successful. There’s also a global order to stay off the oceans as much as possible since the radioactive plasma—a byproduct of wiping out the Xenomorphs by destroying their primary carrier ship—hadn’t been contained at the location of destruction. When one Xenomorph dies, it produces a manageable amount of plasma. When thousands of them die, it's a different story.

The uncontained plasma was carried on the waves of the seas, pushed and pulled by deep currents, eventually contaminating a majority of the planet’s water supply. Even diluted, the radiation proved to be life-threatening if exposure lasted longer than several hours. Scientists have invented a safe protocol to partially neutralize the radiation so that seawater can still be used for necessary procedures, but the neutralization process only works with small, carefully monitored batches. In addition, ships aren’t allowed to sail unless they have the proper build to protect the crew members and passengers. In short, humanity is getting by, but just barely. Don’t even get the scientists started on the fish.

Another organized Xenomorph attack could render the oceans useless, and since that’s a threat to the human race as a whole, drastic measures were taken.

The first volunteers for the Program were of varying degrees of intelligence and physical ability. The Program took anyone who was willing, but those on the higher end of the spectrum of both categories had the mental capacity to adapt to harsh changes in life-threatening situations, and the ability to properly deduce conclusions from given information to properly react to threats. The Program quickly figured out they needed the best and the brightest to get the upper hand on the Xenomorphs.

The Program and its executives, along with the JSA, created and passed a law that required all students at the top one hundred universities in the country to be run through mandatory mental and physical acuity testing.

In the beginning of the second year of college, all students take the mental acuity test. It’s standardized and engineered to sort students into categories based on their problem-solving ability.

Students then move onto physical acuity tests. This includes training in Krav Maga and Jujitsu for combat, strength training and flexibility for muscle building, and finally running, biking, gymnastics, and swimming for agility training and breath control. If students pass all categories successfully, then they move on to Paired training, where Pairs are tested to make sure they actually _can_ work together as a team. After passing Paired training, Pairs can choose to complete the Program—three years of practical training in a purposefully vague place known as the Temporal Zone—and wait for deployment—a seven-year period marked by deep space exploration and threat assessment. After that, soldiers could go home, knowing they kept that home safe while they were away.

But most Pairs didn’t come back alive. If a Pair did return, it was even more rare that both members were in one piece. These statistics were explained in detail before cadets had the option to move onto Temporal Training, but most didn’t seem to care because they either had long-standing determination or nothing left to lose.

“Don’t walk through the Door if you have full faith in returning,” they say.

“Don’t tell your family you’re coming back, because you might not,” they tell them.

A brave cadet once had asked during one of these seminars, “Why do they need Pairs to pilot the ships?”

They had replied, “Because one of you might die.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dude I am _not_ hopping on your back,” Cisco says as he holds out his hands in front of him. Barry stands with his back to Cisco, waiting.

“Just get on,” Barry demands impatiently. They have to get to the math building before the other Pairs did. There’s a Terminal inside that has a simple math equation to solve, and that was their first task. It’s simple by the Program’s standards of course, but Barry and Cisco aren’t going to get a chance to complete it if _Cisco doesn’t move._

“I _can_ run you know,” Cisco says as if Barry doesn’t’ know that already.

“Not as fast as me,” Barry snaps back. Barry had placed first in running. Of course, Barry had only run fast enough to beat the fastest person, and that person had been Francisco Ramon.

“I placed _second_ to you _,_ that’s got to be good enough, come on, quit babbling.” Cisco takes a starting stance next to Barry, “Ready when you are.”

Barry doesn’t move.

“Cisco. Get. On.” Barry points to his back again.

“Make me,” Cisco stands up, crosses his arms.

Barry faces him.

“You’re gonna wish you hadn’t said that.” Barry’s eyes darken, and all at once the speedster rushes Cisco and tosses him over his shoulder with practiced ease.

“Hey, put me down!” Cisco yelps, trying to wrench his body free.

Barry smiles and does his best to ignore Cisco's nails that are digging deep into his arm. Then, he _runs._

Barry focuses his eyes on a point in the distance and takes one charged step onward. Then he’s rushing forward, a new gravity pulling him wherever he wants to go. Barry’s feet move faster than sound, and he can’t feel the ground beneath him, hardly touching it as he runs, lightning in his wake. Weirdest of all, it’s always _quiet_ even though Barry feels like he’s running on waves of thunder. It’s an odd kind of silence. It isn’t that Barry can’t hear anything when he runs; it’s just that he can’t hear _himself._ He’s heard screams for help and laughs of children, but never his own footsteps until he slows down enough _to_ hear them.

The math building zooms up on Barry and Cisco fast, and Barry does his best to come to a gentle stop because for his passenger it’s only been a second.

Cisco feels the disorientation first. His brain is all at once confused as to how he teleported to the math building and his organs feel like they jumped off a _very_ tall building and hit the ground and are confused as to how they are still alive.

“Holy mother of—oh _fuck,"_ Cisco says before he runs to throw up in a nearby bush. Barry watches him, prepared to hold Cisco’s hair back as he’s done for others, but Cisco has it tied back in a ponytail, so there’s no need.

Cisco misses the bushes entirely. While he doesn’t get any vomit on his uniform, he does get a little on his boots.

“This is your fault," Cisco says, pointing to his shoe and still trying to rationalize what just happened to him.

“I’ll clean it later, come on, the Terminal is inside.” Barry offers. He checks his watch and waits; the other Pairs are still far behind them if Barry’s calculations are correct, but Cisco and Barry need as much of a lead as possible.

All at once, Cisco figures out the obvious.

"You're a speedster," Cisco says.

“Yeah, I am,” Barry confirms, “Come on.”

Cisco is still halted, “Are you Nexus-compatible?” Cisco asks.

"Are you?" Barry retorts, avoiding the need to answer.

Cisco says nothing, understanding.

Barry points to his watch, “we have a decent head start, but if we want that top score we have to _move._ Now." Barry almost grabs Cisco's arm, aiming to speed him inside, but refrains. Cisco takes off into a fast run next to Barry, and they burst through the doors.

Students part like the red sea before them. Everyone knows what Cisco and Barry are doing, so they get the fuck out of the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nexus-Compatibility isn’t a simple thing to understand. It's like trying to teach someone how to fish when they've never had a chance to see the ocean. So if a person _is_ Nexus-Compatible, it makes all the sense in the world, but only to them.

Cisco learned about Nexus-Compatibility young. He’d watched a documentary about how there were people who could access the subtle electronic waves of a computer, of the internet _,_ of _information itself_ and patch into what was denoted as the Nexus.

The Nexus refers to the visual manifestation of the digital framework of information in computers and the internet _._ When someone _patches in_ , they’re going ‘inside’ of the computer on a vibrational level. They’ve synced up their vibrations with that of the dub of the computer—sometimes referred to as a Nexus Terminal if it’s primarily used for patching in—and their human brain relays those artificial vibrations as a visual world. When they de-sync from those vibrations, those visual signals distort and fade, resulting in “fuzzing out” and returning to the physical world.

While patched into the Nexus, information can be physically grabbed, accessed, and manipulated at will as long as the Switcher—a slang term for someone who has Nexus-Compatability—has a working knowledge of how computers and other digital technologies work on a binary level. Switchers can translate that knowledge to higher levels of visual thinking, and that’s what makes them successful at patching in, navigating the Nexus plane, and fuzzing out.

In short, Francisco Ramon is a genius, and the binary utopia he discovered the first time he patched into the Nexus is one of the most surreal things he’s ever experienced.

The only thing that came close was when Cisco learned of his meta-ability. Cisco developed powers that allowed him to manipulate inter-dimensional energies and permitted him to affect the vibrations of living and non-living things alike. It was because of these vibrational powers that he was able to access the Nexus so easily. Switchers either learned how Cisco did, or they were taught.

From there, all that had to be done was run a linear analysis of vibrational meta-activity against the universal vibrational mechanisms of the Nexus. The regression produced a number between one and one hundred that would serve as the standard measure of someone’s Nexus-Compatibility. While anyone with a vibration-based meta-ability had a score, Cisco's number was remarkably high, pushing into the realm of the extraordinary with ease.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m patching in.” Cisco states turning on on his goggles, a homemade creation that enhances his already-strong abilities, "watch my back." He orders, "you'll hear two beeps and see two blinks of green light when I get there, and then another blink and a beep every minute. If it's more than that, drag me out manually, got it?"

Barry nods.

“Good, now watch my back, speedster,” Cisco smirks, and gets to work.

Barry is well prepared to fight off any other students that may come upon them. He’d kept barely below the threshold of the Speedforce in his combat trials to hide his meta-ability from the other students. Back then he hadn’t needed the attention or the trouble that could come from exposure. But now that he has Cisco to guard, watch out for, and _protect,_ Barry has no reason to hide anymore.

Barry doesn’t know much about Cisco, and Cisco doesn’t know much about Barry, but if the Program put the two of them together, it has to be for a good reason. So, as Barry watches Cisco patch into the terminal, Barry might be starting to understand _why_.

Cisco—as Barry quickly finds out—has to be close to one hundred percent Nexus-Compatible. The speed at which Cisco patches in is ridiculously high. It still takes Barry at least a minute, and he’s _ninety-five percent_ Nexus-Compatible. Cisco only takes 3.45 seconds, and Barry _counts._

The two of them easily have one of the highest Nexus-Compatibility scores of _anyone_ in the Program, if not the highest.

All Barry can do now is watch Cisco’s six and wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cisco smells the number nine, tastes the color pink, hears something spicy and _silver,_ and then it feels like everything is stretching and imploding all at once. And just when it’s almost too much, Cisco is _in._

With a rush, he stabilizes his vibrations, matching the frequency of the Nexus Terminal easily. His goggles automatically log it for later use, just in case he needs to patch into this Terminal in the future. He lets the Nexus appear before him, just how it always does, in a network of crossed lines that spring out in all directions.

Cisco’s suit is engineered for Nexus operations. Made of the reinforced tripolymer that he invented when he was twelve, the suit contains almost a thousand feet of copper wire in its lining. Cisco had carefully woven it in to amplify and channel his vibrational energies. It makes syncing and vibrational manipulation easier, and when using his powers gives him a whole host of problems alone, Cisco can use all the help he can get.

Sure, Cisco could do make do _without_ the suit—after all, he had for _years—_ but _with_ the suit, he could do so much _more._ While he can’t take the suit with him into the Nexus, the energies stored in the wires _do_ follow him there _._ So when Cisco looks down at where his arms, torso, and legs should be, he can see the outline of his body in the crisscrossed wire lines.

 _Perfect,_ Cisco thinks and smiles.

Cisco’s spawn point is foreign, but he can handle it. He’s never used this Nexus Terminal before and he'd get over it. Around him, there are small glowing pulses that run along the cubic grid that appears before him whenever he patches in.

Cisco focuses on one of them and _grabs._

The Nexus creates movement without resistance. It's wind without a breeze to follow, and Cisco _owns_ it, navigating by moving along the grids and using the cubic constructs to progress to different locations. He only knows he’s going fast because the displacement of his current XYZ coordinates registers in his goggles every few seconds. Cisco starts counting down, focusing, and when the numbers behind his eyes burn X52, he flies off the grid, locates another high-speed pulse, _grabs_ it _,_ and continues to travel.

Y52.

He flips grids, thinking idly of Barry and his speed, of how _fast_ they had moved from one location to the next.

Z52.

Cisco cuts off his thoughts, reaches the location of the equation he has to solve, and _stops._

He tastes colors and hears flavors again, and tries not to think too much about the hangover he’s going to get when he fuzzes out. He sometimes forgets he’s a human in a decidedly _not_ human construct of binary circuits and electrical currents.

“Francisco,” A voice calls his name over the dub in the background. The voice is expected, but somehow always sudden.

“Just the artificial intelligence I’m here to see,” Cisco replies, sighing, “with the problem I need to solve.” His vocal manifestation sounds more electronic than human.

“I’m the only one here,” The AI says.

“Not the point,” Cisco says.

“I’m also _your_ AI, your _only_ AI.”

“Again, not the point,” Cisco repeats.

“You don’t have long.”

“I know,” Cisco says, “the Program sent me here because there’s something that needs solving. Do you know where I can find it?”

“Of course,” The AI brings the problem forward.

Cisco sends two focused vibrational pulses to his eyes and starts working the equation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry hears Cisco sigh, and Cisco’s goggles blink and beep twice—the agreed signal that Cisco has reached the equation.

Barry lets himself sigh, and again, remarks at how _fast_ Cisco’s Nexus abilities are.

All throughout school _Barry_ had been the fastest. Barry is contemplating just what might make Cisco so special when he gets another blink and a beep, another good sign.

Barry is tensed even though he continues to get regular blinks and beeps. He checks his watch often—an easy thing to do when Barry is as fast as he is—to double check Cisco's timing. Barry knows others will be arriving soon.

He’s prepared.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cisco is hurriedly running binary calculations in a nearby grid, and graphing linear equations on another. He’s in the act of taking a partial derivative from a multivariable equation when the AI tells him, “There’s someone else here.”

“What?” Cisco is worried at hearing that, scared even. He’s supposed to be alone. If he isn’t, that means that Barry—

“I sense the presence of a human,” The AI tells him.

“Are they a meta?” Cisco asks, refusing to remain anything but calm, “Like me? Are they part of the Program?”

“No. Not like you. They’re different.” The AI doesn’t say anything else, only silence.

Cisco would beat a fist if it wouldn’t reduce his efficiency.

“Well tell me what the fuck is going on!” Cisco is panicked now. He’d run into other Switchers in the past; some that could keep him from fuzzing out. He’d lost days to rogue Switchers. _Days._

But if someone else in the Program is here, Cisco just has to work faster. He can’t afford to get stuck. It would kill his and Barry’s score, and Cisco can’t let that happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry hears another beep, assured again that Cisco is tracking nicely when a Pair runs through the door. They don’t come in stealthily, thinking they are the first.

Of course, they're wrong.

“Allen?” The first one—Tony Woodward—says.

“The one and only,” Barry replies, flexing his muscles. He’s humoring them. It buys Cisco time and Barry can dip into the Speedforce to kick the shit out of them when the time comes.

“You got Paired with Ramon I see,” Woodward points to the very unaware Cisco, and Barry registers the next beep.

“And you got paired with Nimbus apparently,” Barry points to the scrawny person next to Woodward. There’s no way they get along. How did they even get—

Woodward suddenly makes a jump towards Barry, making the first move.

Barry laughs and slows down time.

 _Incapacitate, not kill,_ he reminds himself, remembering Dr. Thawne’s training and how he learned _so_ much more than Chronodynamics.

_Run in a circle to charge then shoot the bolt at their sternum, not their spine._

Barry makes a small, yellow tornado of lightning in the room and charges a bolt, aiming it towards Woodward’s solar plexus.

_It knocks the wind out of them and stuns at the same time. No lasting damage, but they won’t be getting up anything soon._

Barry lets time speed up again, and Woodward is thrown to the grown harshly. He would scream if he had air in his lungs.

Nimbus looks at him in shock.

“You’re a—”

Barry slows down time again, charges another bolt, and aims it at Nimbus, who never finishes the sentence and crumples to the floor in the same violent way Woodward had.

Barry lets him fall, waits for another beep from Cisco’s goggles, and then dips into the Speedforce again to drag the unconscious bodies out of the way of the door. When Cisco is done, they’re going to have to run.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I have three identifications,” The AI answers.

Cisco shudders. This is bad.

“Say it already!” Cisco shouts. He’s run the derivative, he just has to graph it with the others and find the intersection of the lines. Simple. Easy. It’s just taking him too damn long because he’s panicked.

“Wait, now there is only one.” The AI corrects.

“You need to tell me what the _fuck_ is happening right now!” Cisco demands.

“The only one I have now is Bartholomew Henry Allen,” The AI says.

Cisco would facepalm if he had time.

“That’s Barry,” Cisco says, “Of course.”

And if there were three signatures before, that means that Barry _is_ doing his job.

“His signature is on the outside of the terminal,” The AI informs.

Cisco has the answer, throws it in the direction considered _up_ , the direction where the answer _feels_ like it needs to go, and speaks to the AI.

“Gideon, you can’t scare me like that,” Cisco says, “He’s one of the good guys, I promise. Anyone else, tell me immediately. I’ll talk to you next time, okay?”

“Don’t you want to hear more—”

Cisco fuzzes out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry is panting when Cisco turns off his goggles.

"I solved it," Cisco says, quick and to the point.

“If I tell you to hop on my back will you actually do it this time?” Barry teases, his back to Cisco, his front facing the door.

Cisco glares at him, but laughs and jumps on anyway, “Don’t rub it in too much, _Flash._ ”

“You are _not_ going to start calling me that,” Barry argues.

“Try and stop me.” Cisco retorts, “Now giddy up.”

Barry is about to argue back when he sees another Pair appear in the door. He doesn’t give them any time to see Cisco and himself, using his powers to run them as quickly out of the building as possible. Barry stops as quickly as he starts, letting Cisco down closer to a bush this time.

“God _damn_ it—” Cisco curses, and throws up again. Barry waits until he’s done before he speaks.

“Cisco, how Nexus-Compatible are you?” Barry asks, “You patched in quick, and finished that equation _really_ fast.”

“You first.” Cisco demands.

“Ninety-five.” He says.

“One hundred.”

He figured Cisco was… close, but not _exactly one hundred._

“My meta-ability is the manipulation of vibrational forces,” Cisco explains, “It’s practically engineered towards perfect Nexus-Compatibility.”

Barry doesn’t even know what to _say_ to that.

“Well, go on, what’s your deal?” Cisco asks him, urging on the conversation.

“Well, you already know I’m a speedster,” Barry blurts out, “It’s manipulation of a specific vibrational force, called—”

“—the Speedforce.” Cisco finishes.

“How do _you_ know about that?” Barry says.

“Dr. Thawne. He knew more than Chronodynamics.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Barry runs a hand through his hair.

“Hey, my vibrational powers include inter-dimensional ones,” Cisco adds, “and that falls pretty clearly into the realm of Chronodynamics. He was pretty helpful in explaining the physics behind what I can do, and the implications of those physics.”

“Well, Dr. Thawne is also a speedster like me,” Barry tells him, “He trained me in my powers. The Speedforce is _why_ Dr. Thawne studies Chronodynamics,”

“Alright, it’s official,” Cisco says, “You and I both give new meaning to the term ‘office hours’.”

Barry laughs again. He’s laughed a lot today, especially given the high stressors he and Cisco have been dealing with, and Barry’s _never_ gotten along so well with someone he’s never really met before.

“So,” Barry says, “if your meta-ability is manipulating vibrational energies… I’m going to call you Vibe.”

"Oh no, we aren't doing this," Cisco says.

“You called me Flash!”

“That was a joke!” Cisco defends.

“And this isn’t?”

"Barry Allen…" Cisco warns and throws a playful punch in Barry's direction. Barry is meant to dodge it, and he does, using Cisco's forward momentum to gently shove him away. Cisco turns around and faces his partner.

“We are going to _kill_ this list of tasks,” Barry supplies.

Cisco holds out a fist in Barry’s direction, “Team FlashVibe for the win!” Cisco says.

Barry bumps it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, thanks for reading, I know this fic has a lot of info, and I threw a lot at you, so feel free to ask any questions here or message me on tumblr ([GideonShipsIt](http://gideonshipsit.tumblr.com)). 
> 
> This fic is also a Christmas present to buckybunnyteeth, as part of a FlashVibe Secret Santa event that seriously got away from me. I heard they like AUs... so ummm here we go! I've got it all planned out, so now all you gotta do is hang on, crank some tunes, and patch in every once in a while ;)


	3. Testing 3, 2, 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, Barry and Cisco have to make a decision they can't ever take back.
> 
> Alright, here we go! Themes this chapter include [Behaving Badly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn_d4t7KWkg) by Animals as Leaders and [Lights Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AsjPZpZZwM) by Future World Music.

Cisco thinks he's almost used to the nauseating standstill that happens whenever Barry stops running, but then he vomits again.

“You okay there, buddy?” Barry asks, patting Cisco’s back. They’d finished the second task—another ‘run and solve’—in half the time it took to complete the first. Cisco blames it on Barry’s speed. Barry blames it on Cisco’s Nexus skills.

“Yeah, fine, just find the enemy or whatever,” Cisco shoos him off, trying to will his nausea to pass.

Barry, on the other hand, doesn’t have to wait long before their ‘enemy’ jumps out of the bushes. It’s an android robot that’s supposed to resemble a human. Barry catches its attention without realizing it, and the robot makes a beeline in his direction. Cisco loosely watches from the sidelines, knowing the robot doesn’t stand a chance against Barry’s speed. The only problem is that Barry _isn’t_ using his speed.

“Come on, man! Do it!” Cisco makes a swirling motion with his arm as he jolts into action.

“You shoot it!” Barry says, “I’ll run support!”

“This is about _speed,_ you’re like, the _king_ of speed!” Cisco says, but he’s already preparing to fire a vibrational blast.

_Here goes nothing,_ Cisco thinks.

Cisco knows that there are millions of molecules in his right hand, but he narrows his focus to a single one in the center of his palm. He places all his attention on the vibration of that one molecule, and when he’s got it, he recalls the frequency with which he can properly charge a blast without damaging his own baseline vibration _too_ drastically. It's stored in his goggles, but Cisco has done this so many times he doesn't have to bring it up. Cisco furrows his brows and carefully shifts the molecule of interest to the proper vibration.

All Cisco has to do then is spread that vibrational frequency to the neighboring molecules. The gauntlets and the suit help out with this tremendously, making it easy for Cisco to channel his body’s vibrations through the suit, into the gauntlets, and directly into his hand. The adjustments of the other molecules happen one by one, quickly compounding. He can feel the vibration building, buzzing, and _thrumming_ outward, like a wave _._ Cisco’s focus rapidly widens, growing bigger and bigger until he’s feeling all of the heightened vibrations in his hand as _one_.

It takes only a few seconds, and from there, all Cisco has to do, is aim and _push._

The android is still distracted by Barry, but it’s close enough for Cisco to land a critical hit. Cisco aims his palm in the direction of the robot, and lets go of the pent-up energy in his hand all at once. Without anything to hold it, the energy in Cisco's hand is released in the form of a thick, sonic wave.

The android shatters before him.

Cisco removes his goggles, a little light-headed, and offers Barry a weak smile. Barry smiles back at him.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Barry says, emphasizing each word.

Cisco breathes a sigh of relief while Barry keeps talking.

“That is one of the _coolest_ things I have ever seen, and I’ve been in the Nexus dude, _and_ I can run faster than sound!” Barry’s excitement isn’t lost on Cisco, and Cisco’s more than content hearing Barry’s surprise.

"Showoff." Cisco smiles again and claps Barry on the shoulder with his left hand. His right is limp. The gauntlet is in the process of helping it get some of its ‘energy’ back, but it will still take time.

“Says the guy who just shattered an android with his mind,” Barry laughs.

“Less talking, more running,”

“You gonna be able to do that again?” Barry asks while Cisco hops on his back.

Cisco is silent like it’s obvious, and when Barry doesn’t say anything else, Cisco says, “of course,”

Barry runs instead of replying, and Cisco would acknowledge that as a good choice if being a passenger on Barry Allen’s back wasn’t so disorienting.

"This can't be good for my heath," Cisco says when Barry lets him down. He manages to only vomit a little this time, and Cisco can't tell if he's actually getting used to it or there's nothing left in his stomach to throw up. As usual, Barry gives him a minute, surveying the area.

“The droid is over there I think,” Barry points, “I'm guessing it's around fifty feet north of our position,”

Cisco nods, taking in the detail. After his nausea passes he notices his right hand—his chosen hand for firing vibrational blasts—is no longer limp, and back up to one hundred percent again.

_Interesting. That was… quick_ , Cisco thinks and runs after his partner, heading in the direction of the next enemy. Together, they come across one of the androids as it jumps out in front of them. This time Barry has it down on the ground—shorted out by one of Barry’s focused bolts—before Cisco can even think to charge a blast.

“Well, this is getting easier and easi—” Cisco says, but he speaks too soon. Not three, not four, but _five_ robots suddenly surround them.

“I can blast two of them successfully, can you get the other three?” Cisco shouts, already focusing on his right hand again, preparing for the left to be ready next.

“Yeah!” Barry says right before he disappears in a red blur.

Everything next happens appropriately _fast._

An android explodes in a burst of light next to Cisco, shocked into malfunction by one of Barry's bolts and Cisco hears another robot fall to the same fate nearby. In front of him, Cisco’s target is annihilated by a sonic blast. Another crackle of lightning later and Barry has taken down the fourth robot.

There's only one left and Cisco lets the heightened energy in his left hand fly, a war cry tearing itself from his throat as the blast halts any further action from the android, obliterating it.

Cisco and Barry grin at each other, only to be overshadowed by a _twenty-foot tall monster._

General Singh steps out of the shadows with a megaphone.

“This is an artificial Xenomorph. During the first attack, there were organisms recorded this size. Learn to take one down and you might stand a chance in an ambush.” Barry could _hear_ the amusement in the General’s voice.

“General, is this a fucking boss fight or something?” Cisco shouts.

“Something like that, just don’t… lose a limb or something.” Singh says, and this time Cisco can hear him grinning.

Barry has time to yell, “that’s a _possibility?”_ Before the Pseudo-Xenomorph comes rushing towards them. Barry flashes Cisco to safety easily, dodging the creepy metallic limbs of the artificial creature.

“Try a bolt!” Cisco shouts, shaking his hands, trying to get some semblance of vibration back into them. They _feel_ dead. They aren’t actually dead—not even close—but they feel like they aren’t alive. It doesn’t catch Cisco off guard, but it’s _always_ weird when it happens, just like the synesthesia he experiences when he’s patching into the Nexus.

Barry doesn’t object to Cisco's suggestion and runs off. The resulting lightning bolt doesn’t phase the monster in the slightest.

“Are you _kidding me?_ ” Barry shouts as he flashes out of the way of one of the robot’s flying arms. It’s much faster than the other androids they have been fighting today.

“It didn’t work?” Cisco says, still crouched and shaking his hands. The robot hisses violently, and it makes Cisco and Barry cringe at how inhuman it sounds.

“Not significantly,” Barry says.

“Then hit it again!” Cisco shouts.

Then Barry notices Cisco's rapid hand shaking, "And what the fuck are _you_ doing?”

Cisco is running out of patience, but not for Barry, for the Program. He was going to have a serious talk to Barry about his powers when this was all done, to _explain_ them. He knows this is all part of the Program, testing them in these high-stress situations see if they're compatible, but the methods still piss him off. They couldn't have like, gotten coffee first?

“My hands don’t have any goddamn vibration to blast with and my gloves only do so much!” Cisco explains, “In short, I need time before my next blast can work! It would be shit now. Like, my most maximum hit right now could hit you and you’d be fine.”

Barry nods, and flashes away. Cisco hears the sharp sound of electricity meeting metal, and then a loud curse that without a doubt belongs to Barry. The speedster is back over to where Cisco crouches in a few second’s time.

“We gotta figure out something,” Barry says.

"Well, no shit," Cisco says, cursing his abilities. If he’d known there would be a _boss_ then he wouldn’t have wasted those blasts on the weak ones earlier. He should have let Barry take them, they didn’t have to—

“Wait,” Barry says, “You need vibrational energy?”

“Yeah,” Cisco says, still irritated at this point, “my gloves are feeding it in, but it’s not fast enough for this.”

“I can do that, I think," Barry says.

“Do what?”

“Try to give you some vibes,” Barry says, a smile on his face, hopeful.

Cisco then watches Barry’s hands turn into blurs, vibrating with so much _energy,_ and Cisco gets it. If Cisco could capture it, then—

Abruptly, there is a crashing behind them, a clear signal that Cisco and Barry have lost their cover. Barry solves this problem by flashing them to a safer location, ducking under the Pseudo-Xenomorph’s long, metal tail in the process.

“Give me your hands,” Barry says.

Cisco does and at first, all he feels is Barry’s hands holding his. Barry’s vibrations start subtle, and Cisco can’t detect a blur like he’d seen earlier. But then Cisco can feel Barry's vibrations more clearly, and he realizes it's because Barry is transferring them into Ciscos hands. Barry's vibrations are quicker and more sporadic that Cisco’s. They’re appropriate for a speedster. But nevertheless, Cisco takes Barry’s vibes and converts them into his own frequency quickly.

Within seconds, Cisco’s good to go.

Cisco pulls his hands out of Barry's light grip and stretches his fingers. "It worked," he says.

It's just in time because the android is not running, but _launching itself towards them._ Cisco moves his right hand on top of his left and sonically charges the former. However, instead of firing he quickly pushes the charged vibrations—halted—into his left hand to rest, and charges up his right hand again.

“Don’t, Flash, I got this!” Cisco shouts when he sees Barry move into a running stance in his periphery. Barry stalls, skeptical but trusting, and the android leaps.

Cisco yells like a prehistoric caveman and Barry sees the sonic blast let loose in a quaking _burst_. It’s so loud that it hurts _,_ but the wave—and it’s really more like a beam—hits the Pseudo-Xenomorph square in the chest causing its leap to turn into a fall. Barry dilates time, and the body of the android splinters, as the spiraling fractals shatter in slow motion around Cisco.

It’s an odd, brutal beauty, to see Cisco, unafraid before he even knows he’s won. The pieces of the android fall harmlessly, electrical bolts stopping mid-misfire. Barry speeds around to see the scene from every angle and then lets time return to its natural speed. The pieces rain down around Cisco without ever touching him _._

Cisco rips off his goggles and his gloves, shaking his hands and his head, and before Barry can congratulate him, Cisco is dropping to his knees. Barry rushes over and catches him.

"I swear if there's another robot to fight…" Cisco says.

He doesn’t finish talking and falls unconscious into Barry’s arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The world is too bright. It’s too _fucking bright._

“He’s awake!” Someone shouts from next to Cisco. They hold his hand, and Cisco squeezes back, gaining the courage to fight the light. He opens his eyes to see Barry sitting next to him. Barry hasn’t changed out of his red uniform, but his cowl is pulled back and his hair is disheveled.

Cisco, on the other hand, is in a pristine hospital gown. He shifts under the—thankfully warm—blankets on top of him and then a nurse is there, checking his vitals, and Cisco has no desire to push her away.

He’s been through all of this before, after all.

“Cisco, thank god, I’m so glad you’re alright.” Barry moves forward—to hug him—but backs up quickly, “you were bleeding, and then you passed out, and dude, they told me you fucking _flatlined_ for a solid five minutes."

Five minutes? That was _nothing._

Cisco laughs.

“Cisco, that is _not_ funny! You were _dead._ Clinically _dead,_ ” Barry says, urgency thick in his voice.

“It’s happened before,” Cisco dismisses, “I haven’t had the time to explain to you yet because of the Program and all. It’s kinda… normal to flatline when I use my powers that much.”

“It’s normal _to literally die?”_ Barry shouts, obviously not caring who hears him. The nurse flinches, but it’s more out of surprise than shock, going back to her work almost instantly.

Cisco sighs, “With a blast that powerful, I expect to lose most of the vibration in my body, and since _we are literally made of vibrations—_ ”

“—that hasn’t been proven yet,” Barry interjects.

Cisco glares, “— _I’m_ the proof. I’ll put your name on the paper if you help me write it when we come back.”

_If we come back,_ Barry thinks. “Deal,” Barry says.

“Anyways, humans are made of vibrations. All of our biological processes rely on some level of frequency. This includes the heart, and the brain, and everything else…” Cisco explains, “but I never Flatline for long. I'm still alive, you just won’t get a pulse or a brainwave because nothing is there, but given some… recovery time, I’ll ‘start back up’ again. It's like I have a weird, hibernation mode or something that comes with my powers. It's like a protection mechanism."

“That is _not_ cool at all!” Barry tells him.

“You just don’t understand it yet, you’d be fine if you _understood_ ,” Cisco explains. His head hurts.

“What’s the longest?” Barry says out of worry than anything else.

“Twenty-two minutes.”

“ _Twenty-two minutes?!”_ Barry wants to throw his chair, “Cisco…”

“I’ll be alright.” Cisco insists.

“I can’t believe you _died_ during a training mission.”

“But we did beat it, right?” Cisco asks, still way too calm for Barry’s liking. “I swear if Singh sent another one after you…”

“No, that was the end,” Barry answers, “They would have ended it for medical reasons, but Singh says that was the last one.”

“Singh knows about this,” Cisco gestures to himself, referring to the state he’s in, “he probably expected it," Cisco says, sighing again. The nurse hooks up another bag of a strong electrolyte solution to Cisco’s IV and checks his pulse.

“Well, for the record,” Barry lets himself smile a bit, “I’m pretty sure we placed first by a _long_ shot. In everything.”

“Barry Allen, are you telling me we get to go to _Space?_ ” Cisco sits up, but the nurse pushes him back down. He complies.

“Maybe,” Barry says, “At the least, we’re officially a Pair.”

They give each other a high five instantly.

“But we’re going to talk about this Flatlining thing,” Barry says.

“Of course,” Cisco promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Cisco was almost fully recovered by the time they got him to the hospital bed, the Program’s med team keeps him there for another few hours.

Barry doesn’t leave him. Not once. So when they discharge him—and Barry turns away while Cisco puts his suit back on—they can walk back together to the hall where the other Pairs—both successful and unsuccessful—are seated.

“Now that the Ramon-Allen Pair has rejoined the rest of us—” General Singh is up at the front, along with a woman neither Cisco nor Barry recognize. Had General Singh been waiting for _them? “—_ we can get on with the results.”

A holographic scoreboard is projected onto the wall behind the General, and Cisco and Barry both gasp simultaneously from their place in the back of the room. Then all eyes of the auditorium are on them, and Cisco and Barry both swallow nervously.

Their names, as they had suspected, are first in all tasks. The other Pairs placed in a varied fashion and no other Pairs placed as consistently as Barry and Cisco had in all four tasks. Barry and Cisco see that Woodward and Nimbus had gotten fifth in the first task—thanks to Barry’s forced delay—and while Barry recognizes a few of the other names, he hadn’t seen any of them on the field. Neither had Cisco.

Singh continues, “In first place, as you all have already guessed, is the Ramon-Allen Pair. Barry Allen and Cisco Ramon form the most successful Pair produced from Central City University this testing cycle. They have set numerous records across the board, and can choose to move onto Temporal Training if they so wish.”

“Holy shit—” Cisco says under his breath.

“—we did it,” Barry finishes.

They grab each other’s hands in between their seats, and the rest of the results fall on deaf ears.

_They could go to space._

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the results, the cadets had all eaten together in the cafeteria and the successful Pairs had received room assignments in temporary housing. As predicted, Barry and Cisco had no issue sorting out cohabitation and settling in.

“Hey, Cisco?” Barry asks, his voice quiet.

Cisco is folding his uniform and placing it in a drawer, “Yeah?” he says.

“Have you ever done that vibrational blast thing to a person?”

Cisco freezes and doesn't turn to face Barry.

That isn’t something Cisco wants to talk about. It had been an accident, how could he have known, _how could he have known—_

“Hey man, it’s okay,” Barry puts a reassuring hand on Cisco’s shoulder. Cisco swats it away, and Barry takes a few steps back, “you don’t have to answer.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’d find out eventually.” Cisco’s voice sounds defeated, and when he does turn to face Barry, his eyes are downcast. He hugs himself, “it was an accident, self-defense. That’s all you need to know.”

“Okay,” is what Barry says.

Cisco is back to organizing his few belongings before long, and shortly after the two of them are laughing and joking around once more.

After the lights go out, they climb into their beds and fall asleep quickly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry and Cisco wake up to a voice over their room’s personal intercom. It’s General Singh, and apparently, he wants to speak with them _immediately_.

“Holy shit it’s _four in the morning!"_ Cisco says after reading the clock and rubbing his eyes. Nevertheless, he changes clothes into the commissioned uniforms that basically just say _Central City University_ on them. Cisco awakens Barry again—since he’d fallen back asleep the second Singh had quit talking—and wolfs down one of his custom made calorie bar. Barry, realizing what’s happening, quickly changes at lightning speed. Cisco would be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous.

“Want me to speed us there? We might be late.” Barry offers.

“Nope, it’s too early and I would like to keep my breakfast down,” Cisco says, tossing Barry a calorie bar. He catches it. “You might need this, I figure your speedster metabolism might need a little pick-me-up in the morning.”

Barry takes the bar and eats it in seconds, “How did you—”

“—know? You ate like a horse last night after the results. I connected the dots and I brought a few extra with me when I was packing my things.”

“Thanks,” Barry says.

“No problem, don’t need you passing out on the job,” Cisco winks and walks out the door.

“Too soon, way too soon!” Barry calls after him, locking the door in his wake.

Before long, Barry and Cisco arrive in the conference room—Room 52B—where they’re supposed to meet with the General. They walk in, and sure enough, General Singh is there, but so is Dr. Thawne, and two other people Barry nor Cisco recognize.

“We haven’t been properly introduced,” One of the unknowns steps forward, “I’m Dr. Tina McGee. I documented your progress and assessed your compatibility in the tasks.”

“How did you keep up with Barry?” Cisco asks.

“Well, I helped a little with that one.” Dr. Thawne stands up and gives a bow, “along with recommending the two of you for Paired training. It's good to see you two passed with such flying colors.”

“You mean this was all your doing?” Barry asks, disbelieving.

“Guilty as charged, Mr. Allen,” Dr. Thawne bows again.

General Singh steps forward then, “And this is Dr. Caitlin Snow, who has a few words to say about your… compatibility.”

Barry and Cisco look at each other a little nervously.

Dr. Snow—Caitlin—walks closer to them, and pulls up some diagrams on her tablet.

“We don’t usually take faculty suggestions seriously, but Dr. Thawne laid out a good case for the both of you. And he _was_ right.” She pulls up a picture of Barry and Cisco’s brains, “Barry, your Nexus-Compatability combined with Cisco’s is unheard of in the Program. But what’s particularly unique about both of your powers is that Cisco,” Caitlin looks to him, “you can amplify Barry’s, and Barry,” She turns to Barry now, “you can amplify Cisco’s.” Caitlin finishes and lets her words sink in.

“What?” Barry starts.

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Cisco echoes.

Tina speaks before Barry and Cisco can start asking questions, and she’s sure they have a lot. “Back in the field, Barry, you—in short—recharged Cisco’s vibrational abilities, and gave him the ability take down the Pseudo-Xenomorph.”

“Which then _killed_ him!” Barry exclaims beyond his better judgment.

"You could have saved him if you understood your powers more," Tina states simply.

Barry _seethes_ from next to Cisco, and Cisco’s strong hand on his arm is the only thing that keeps the speedster from lunging towards Tina and the others.

“You can’t blame Cisco’s Flatlining on me!” Barry shouts, “I couldn’t have known! I just _met_ him!”

Dr. Thawne walks over to them. Bold move.

“But that’s the point.” Dr. Thawne explains calmly, not thrown by Barry’s shouting in the slightest, “We wanted to know if you could understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses enough to conquer whatever threats we threw at you, and you did. We didn’t expect you to make the connection that Barry’s unlimited access to the Speedforce could work so well with Cisco’s vibrational powers. Not yet, at least.”

“That robot would have killed us if we hadn’t figured out how to recharge my meta-ability!” It is Cisco’s turn to yell now. Again, Dr. Thawne remains the definition of tranquil and doesn’t move away.

“We had a backup plan,” General Singh pipes in.

"Oh, and what was _that?”_ Cisco says, voice dripping with sarcasm. He’s mad, really mad. It’s Barry’s turn to put a restraining hand on Cisco’s arm. Cisco grounds himself in it.

“Mr. Ramon, control yourself." Singh says, "we knew there were multiple ways that the last task could have played out. One of you would have figured out there was a weakness at the nape of the Pseudo-Xenomorph’s neck that’s susceptible to one of Barry’s focused attacks.” Singh explains, “one that he hadn’t used yet—a _supersonic punch.”_

“You can _supersonic punch things and you didn’t tell me?_ ” Cisco calms a little, but he’s looking a little betrayed now, his focus back on Barry.

“I still need to explain my powers too, dude.” Barry shrugs.

“Fair.”

“Anyways,” Dr. Snow continues grateful the tension has died down a little, “You two figured out how to work together, using each other’s powers to complete the task at the highest efficiency. It was… breathtaking to watch actually. If you choose to move onto Temporal Training, there are experts there who can help the two of you have better control over Cisco’s Flatlines.”

At that, both Barry and Cisco look at each other skeptically. These people talk so _fast._ Cisco prays Barry is taking it all in somehow because Cisco sure isn't.

“So, in summary, you’re one of the best Pairs the Program has ever had, and we want you to move onto Temporal Training.” General Singh says, “I’ve sent contracts to your email accounts, and you can look them over. But this is no weak game, cadets. I want your decision by midnight. If not, you don't have another chance to walk through that Door. I strongly suggest you do, because you hold the future of humanity in your hands, and you might just be our best shot at winning this fight. Dismissed."

“What, we can’t ask questions?” Barry asks.

“You’re _Dismissed,_ Mr. Allen.” General Singh orders.

Barry obeys and Cisco follows him out of the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

No more acuity tests. No more tasks to complete. They’d made it to the next step: the Door of No Return…

…but there was still plenty of time between when they had to cross that threshold and now, so the first thing Cisco and Barry do is order the most carb-rich option on the menu in the cafeteria with Netflix in mind. Both of them have had to abstain from the majority of their guilty food pleasures since they started the physical acuity tests. Cisco and Barry get their food, and then Barry uses his speed to sneak it out of the cafeteria and into their room. The two of them quickly agree on _The_ _Wrath of Khan_. While settling into one bunk proves difficult at first, they find a way, even if that way is Barry under Cisco’s right arm so he can lean on his chest.

The movie passes in laughter. At one point Barry whacks Cisco on the head with a Twizzler, and Cisco returns the gesture by putting Barry in a headlock and giving him a noogie.

"Alright, Flash, explain what happened to you," Cisco says when the credits start rolling, arm still around Barry. “Your meta-ability, how did you get it?”

Barry begins after taking a breath, “I was struck by lightning when I was nineteen during an internship at a forensics agency. I was in a coma for nine months, and when I woke up I had super speed. I didn’t tell anyone for _months_ because honestly, I thought I was crazy, and after a while, it was easier to keep it a secret. Dr. Thawne caught onto me, pulled me aside after class and offered to train me. I took him up on the offer.”

“Well,” Cisco says, “That’s… shocking.”

“As for my powers, I can run faster than the speed of sound, hence Singh’s mentioning of the supersonic punch.” Barry continues, “I’ve only done that twice in my life, and I run the risk of shattering every bone in my body when I do it, so I try to keep it to a minimum. But I can also phase through things, so that’s cool.”

“That’s,” Cisco blinks, “ very cool, actually.”

Barry picks up a Twizzler and holds it in front of Cisco. He makes his hand blur, palm up, and then drops the Twizzler so that it falls through his hand and into Cisco’s lap.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a cool meta-ability,” Cisco repeats.

“Well it also has the downside of the fast metabolism which you’ve seen, but that comes with an enhanced healing factor.” Barry finishes, “Your turn, Vibe.”

“I was also nineteen. I was working at an Internship at S.T.A.R. Labs—”

“Dude it used to be my _dream_ to work there when I graduated!” Barry says, “before I wanted to go to space and all.”

“Well, no problem there,” Cisco gives him a light squeeze, “anyways, I was working under Dr. Harrison Wells—”

“ _The_ Dr. Harrison Wells? The one that designed _and_ built the particle accelerator?”

“Yup, that Dr. Wells, and yes, _that_ particle accelerator,” Cisco confirms, “I was at S.T.A.R. Labs when it exploded and spent nine months in the hospital in and out of coma-like states while experimenting with my powers while no one was looking. I had a...hard time controlling them at first. They didn't understand why my vitals weren't showing up and kept thinking I was dead, but then I would 'come back from the dead'. Once I figured out what was happening, I stopped using my powers long enough to be discharged from the hospital. I honed my vibe blasts after that.

"Unfortunately, I lost my mentor, Dr. Wells, in that explosion. So I tried to move on after that. I got into college here, aiming to study quantum mechanics so I could understand my meta-ability. Dr. Thawne basically saved my ass on multiple occasions when I was Flatlining. I didn’t know what he did until you did it, but he did the vibrational energy transfer you did and helped me understand the science behind my powers.”

“Wow, that’s…a lot,” Barry said.

“We should talk to him.”

Just then a watch beeps. They have fifteen minutes.

“Grab your suit, let’s go.” Barry says, picking up his own, “Maybe we can talk to Dr. Thawne sometime in the Temporal zone.”

"Maybe," Cisco says, but he's doubtful, they both are.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barry and Cisco stand in front of what many of the cadets had come to call the Door of No Return, named so for that which all of them knew: once you crossed the threshold, you’d had committed to the program, both the training, the deployment, and whatever lay in between. Space exploration alone was scary business. Add in hostile aliens that wanted you dead into the mix with obtaining reconnaissance intelligence of said aliens as a requirement, and walking across that threshold was quite the commitment.  

“Seven years,” Barry says, “That’s a long time.”

“Don’t forget about the three years of training beforehand.” Cisco reminds him.

“They don’t count, they’re in the Temporal Zone.”

“It’s going to count to you.”

“Okay, fine. Ten years. That’s a long time.” Barry looks at the man next to him. “Happy now?”

“You could use the break,” Cisco reassures.

“We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

Cisco gives him a look of incredulity. “Dude, why wouldn’t we go? Everything on this planet sucks right now, and frankly, I wouldn’t mind running off fighting aliens and protecting the Earth while it rebuilds from the last attack.”

Barry smiles, giving him a knowing look, “There’s nothing left for me here.”

“That’s not true,” Cisco argues.

“Regardless, we’re going to fucking _space,_ Cisco!” Barry punches him playfully in the shoulder, “For seven—no ten—years no less!”

“It would technically be seven if you stayed behind!” Cisco shouts and runs when Barry chases after him to punch him again. Barry catches up to him, and Cisco laughs, punches back, and then the two of them devolve into a childish punching fight that ends with Cisco hiding behind a pillar. He calls for a truce, and Barry reluctantly agrees as a saddened expression falls over his face.

“You’re actually second guessing yourself,” Cisco says.

“Seven years is a long time Cisco. When we come back the world is gonna be a different place.”

“Barry, come _on,_ we get to go to space!” Cisco grabs him by the shoulders.

“We might die while we’re there!” The other argues.

“We might survive, too.” Cisco points out.

Barry shakes his head, contemplating, then nods. He’d made this decision when he first met Cisco Ramon, and somehow he thinks Cisco had made it then too.

“Let’s go,” Barry says.

“You sure?”

“Like I said earlier, there’s nothing left for me here.”

Barry holds out his hand.

Cisco takes it.

They nod to each other once, and without hesitation, they pass through the Door of No Return. It shuts behind them soundlessly.

The Ramon-Allen Pair keeps walking forward without looking back, and they never did in the years that followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still with me? I hope so. More Nexus scenes coming up! And Temporal Training. Get excited, because Barry and Cisco are going to space! And meet some familiar faces while they're there. 
> 
> As always, thanks for reading, and feel free to ask questions for clarification! I'm here to help :) And if you just liked it, you can tell me that too, or hit that kudos button. 
> 
> We're a fifth of the way through guys! And it's only going to get crazier from here.


	4. Temporal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco and Barry get to know their new home and learn a little bit more about what it means to be as Nexus-Compatible as they are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Man, it is good to be back writing this fic! Thanks to all who have been sticking with me. To those who have left kudos and comments, it means the world to me. 
> 
> Soundtrack this chapter includes [Saturn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v542RGBnGag) by Lycii and Declan James and [Incoming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAQ2AGOeLo) by BlackGummy.

Save for bathroom breaks and filling up the gas tank, Barry and Cisco ride in a car with no windows for thirteen hours straight. It’s disorienting for two reasons. One, they don’t know where they’re going and two, they aren’t _supposed_ to know where they’re going. So, to avoid going temporarily insane, the Pair passes the time with forgettable and easy small talk, asking questions about what the other might do for a million dollars.

“You get a million dollars—” Barry begins.

“—is it in ones?” Cisco interrupts.

“Does it matter?” Barry replies.

“It _could_ matter…”

“It’s a million dollars in _fives_ ,” Barry clarifies.

Cisco is not satiated.

“Why not tens?”

“Because I said it was in fives!” Barry says, exasperated. “Do you want the money or not?”

Cisco crosses his arms and huffs, then lifts his chin and says, “fine, what’s your proposition?”

Barry takes a breath and starts again. “You get a million dollars—”

“—that’s a lot of money—”

“Cisco shut up!” Barry finally says out of annoyance more than anger and then they’re both silent for a while. Cisco looks for a window to stare out of but finds none and Barry’s legs twitch nervously. It’s a few moments before Cisco speaks again.

“So… do I still get the million dollars?” Cisco’s voice is quiet and careful, but despite this, Barry still sends him his best eat-shit-and-die look.

Cisco just grins in return and Barry turns his face away so Cisco can’t see him flushing.

Eventually, they’re back to more “Million Dollars, But…” questions and once Cisco accepts that the million is in fives _,_ Barry and Cisco’s combined creativity ensures that the game takes up the majority of the time in the car.

The ride passes slowly, though, and Cisco and Barry soon take naps in shifts. Barry isn’t sure how long Cisco is sleeping—his head is in Barry’s lap and his breathing remains even for some time—but Barry sleeps just as long when they switch positions. Cisco is warm, and Barry finds comfort in that. This continues until the car comes to a stop.

Instead of opening sideways, the doors on the car open upwards to reveal a night sky devoid of light. The Pair cautiously exits the vehicle with their belongings slung over opposite shoulders and they quickly move to stand next to one another when the car drives away without warning. Around the Ramon-Allen Pair are two other Pairs dressed in the same standard issue uniforms as Barry and Cisco. They look just as nervous, so it’s not hard for Barry and Cisco to figure out they’re in the same situation they are. In front of all of them—parked not a hundred yards away—is a medium-sized spacecraft.

A man in a ridiculously long and slightly stupid looking duster is striding towards the six of them and a blonde woman flanks him on his right.

“Francisco Ramon and Bartholomew Allen?” The man calls out.

Cisco and Barry raise their hands and the man makes a mark on a tablet.

“Lashawn Baez and Mark Mardon?” The aforementioned also raise their hands, following along with Cisco and Barry. “Lisa Snart and Sam Scudder?” The last two make themselves known in a similar fashion.

Now that everyone is accounted for, the man and the woman move forward closer to the group, inspiring a small amount of intimacy between them. If they’re going to be together for the next three years, they might as well start getting used to one another.

“Greetings to all of you. I am Captain Rip Hunter,” the duster-clad man greets. “I captain this timeship—which you will all come to know as the _Waverider_ —along with Captain Sara Lance,” the woman bows her head once and takes Rip’s words as a cue to speak.

“We’re all grateful that you’ve chosen to come aboard,” Captain Lance tells them. “You’ve made a brave decision and the world will forever thank you for it. Never forget that. Over the next three years it may be hard to remember at times, but we will do our best to keep your spirits high.”

Captain Hunter picks up from there. “Now, all of you scored at differing levels on the acuity tests, but that matters very little now. On the _Waverider_ every one of you—” he looks to each person in the group. “—is equal to everyone else. You’ll undergo specialized training for each of your abilities, of course, but the main idea is that you need to _be kind to one another_ since we all have to live in a shared space,” the man claps his hands together, bringing everyone to attention since some had started drifting. “Now, let’s all jump into the Timestream, shall we?”

Everyone takes that as the signal to board the _Waverider_ and Barry and Cisco can’t help but stare at every aspect of the timeship. The inside of the _Waverider_ is as industrial as the outside, with metal on the walls, floor, and ceiling. It’s straight out of a science fiction TV show and in the midst of so much unfamiliarity, it thrills both Cisco and Barry to know this is where they’ll spend the next three years of their life.

“What do you think the crew capacity of this ship is?” Cisco whispers, sticking close to Barry out of instinct. Both of them have their bags with their allowed belongings slung over their shoulders.

“Not sure. I don’t know anything about this class of timeship,” Barry says disappointedly. “But I’m assuming there will be a few more people? Surely Captain Hunter and Captain Lance have a crew even though it’s awfully bare right now.”

Cisco can only give a hopeful nod as they continue to walk forward.

The group is led into what appears to be the main control room. Several rows of seats fan around the center of the room in a semicircular fashion. There are two seats up front—presumably for the Captains—that lead up to a split glass window with a very unflattering view of the tarmac outside. Directly in front of the Pairs and standing at attention is clearly the crew of the timeship.

Captain Lance and Captain Hunter gesture to them and Sara begins to introduce them to the three Pairs.

Her hand gracefully points to a man with a shaved head, widow’s peak hairline, and a slender yet built form. His eyes are a unique piercing blue—reminding the Pairs of something that could only be described as warm ice—and they complement his navy uniform. “I introduce to you Lieutenant Leonard Snart. He specializes in military strategy. He’s served the JSA for twenty-three years and has played a major role in structuring the standard offensive and defensive protocols for direct and indirect contact with the Xenomorphs. You’ll be spending a _lot_ of time with him,” Lieutenant Snart gives a casual wave with all of his fingers.

Sara gestures to an older man with grey hair and thick-framed black glasses. “This is Dr. Martin Stein. He’s researched and taught Nexus theory for nearly forty years and has been published in numerous reputable journals, written three successful books, and has been one of the JSA’s primary contacts for Nexus research since the beginning of the Program,” Dr. Stein dares to put a smug expression on his face and since he’s so accomplished, he gets away with it. “He’ll be educating all of you on improving teamwork and efficiency for patching into the Nexus, navigating electronic planes, and other special topics.”

Captain Lance points to a shorter woman whose dark shoulder-length hair is parted sharply to one side. She wears a stern expression that remains unchanged throughout her introduction. “Lieutenant Cynthia Reynolds. She’s proficient in vibrational meta-abilities and possesses high Nexus-compatibility in addition to mastering her own meta-ability which focuses on the manipulation and exploitation of inter-dimensional energies,” Cisco raises his eyebrows in surprise and Cynthia makes eye contact with him. _She’d_ been informed prior to launch that Cisco shared her specialization but _Cisco_ hadn’t been informed that he would be training with someone like her.

A tall man with a bowl haircut is up next. “Meet Dr. Raymond Palmer. He focuses on Xenomorph history and physiology. He studies the history of the first attack and how Xenomorphs live and operate on a biological, communicative, and chemical level. He’ll be teaching you everything you need to know about the Xenomorphs. In addition to this, you’ll learn celestial navigation from him. In case the GPS systems in your ships fry out or crash for some reason, knowing how to navigate by the stars will help you stay alive and _not_ drift into a place where Command can no longer reach you.”

The last person introduced is a man who wears a gruff expression with a haircut similar to Lieutenant Snart. “Finally, this is Dr. Mick Rory. He has decades of medical experience as a trauma surgeon and trains Pairs in advanced first aid and various emergency protocols. In preparation for your Paired deployments, he will show you the ins and outs of your ship’s medical supply kit and how to use it in case of a critical medical emergency. He will also advise you on preparing for less urgent situations.”

“I’m also skilled at cooking on these godforsaken spacecraft,” Dr. Rory adds, his stance as loose as his word choice. “Believe me when I say that the food the deployment ship Fabricators can make is significantly less desirable than the Fabricators on the _Waverider_. I’ll give you some pointers on how to stay… _interested_ in eating. Nutrition is important, so don’t be a moron and ignore me,” Dr. Rory is back at attention in a matter of seconds and the two captains seem unfazed by what would normally have been perceived as a breach of protocol by anyone _other_ than the crew of the _Waverider._

“Thank you, Dr. Rory,” Captain Lance turns to him and gives him an approving look. Dr. Rory grins in response and Captain Lance turns to the group once more. “You’ll get to know these people better in the years to come,” she concludes. “But for now, your orders include familiarizing yourselves with your cabins, getting acquainted with Tess, and obtaining dinner. Your itineraries for the coming weeks will be sent to your emails shortly and I strongly recommend looking over them as soon as you’re able. Are there any questions?”

Cisco’s question is immediate. “Who’s Tess, exactly?”

A metallic voice answers from seemingly everywhere at once as a hologram _of a giant human face_ hovers over one of the main consoles in the center of the room. “That would be me, Mr. Ramon. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Cisco jumps. The appearing-serious _Waverider_ crew either crack a grin or flat out laugh at him. Clearly, Cisco hadn’t been the first to be startled by Tess. Even knowing this, his face still reddens.

“H—hey?” Cisco asks tentatively, unsure of what the proper etiquette is when meeting an artificial intelligence for the first time.

Captain Lance, still smiling, points to the ceiling of the _Waverider._ “Tess is our wonderful AI. She was designed by Dr. Eobard Thawne specifically for this mission and she’ll be providing you with food, clothing, and anything else you might need through the Fabricators, along with any communicative services. Occasionally she offers surprisingly sound life advice.”

Lashawn raises her hand next, a member of the Baez-Mardon Pair. Captain Lance nods to her. “Speaking of communication, what are the rules about calling people that _aren’t_ on this ship?”

Captain Lance smiles at her warmly. “You can call who you wish, but run calls by us first. Since we will be voyaging outside of the space-time continuum, we’d hate to see one of your calls misplaced in the wrong time period,” her face suddenly grows serious and loses its warm expression. “Keep communications back home to a minimum. You’re here to learn and save humanity, not constantly talk to the people that you chose to leave behind for ten years.”

Lashawn doesn’t reply to her. Captain Lance expects nothing less. For everyone else, the reality check is sobering. Barry catches Cisco stifling a shudder and places a calming hand on this lower back to provide emotional support.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Day 1**

The _Waverider_ takes off an hour later. The jump is rapid, abrupt, and befuddling because while the Pairs can see where the ship is going from where they’re safely seated in the main room, the sudden change in scenery makes no logical sense. Cisco and Barry grab onto each other’s hand for dear life when it happens because there’s sky and earth before them one second and then nothing but green the next.

The Pairs know they’re going to get used to it, but right now the appearance of the timestream is jarring. There’s no indication of what direction is up or down and because there isn’t a visual anchor, the Pairs slowly realize that there’s a possibility that there might not _be_ an up or down.

The initial jump away from Earth makes _everyone_ nauseous except for Cisco, but Captain Hunter assures them that nausea is a normal reaction to sudden temporal displacement. He then adds an addendum informing the Pairs that other side effects are possible including—but not limited to—temporary blindness and momentary aphasia. Bleeding from the eyeballs is also a possibility. Captain Hunter explains several more hazards of time travel—such as how going back too far may result in death for all involved. No one looks forward to those after hearing _that_.

Luckily, Temporal Training is almost entirely spent in the Temporal Zone—the area the timestream occupies that’s outside of time and space—leaving little room for time jumps. The three years of training pass outside of the timeline on Earth so that in theory it appears to the rest of the universe that cadets go straight from Pairing to deployment. It eliminates as much training time as possible _and_ creates a solid program for deploying skilled Pairs in almost no time at all.

Cisco asks what everyone is thinking. “If the _Waverider_ can travel though time, why can’t we just time jump forward and stop any attacks from happening?” He says carefully. “Or better yet, go back in time and stop the first attack?”

Captain Hunter sighs, wishing things could be different. “That’s a very good question, Mr. Ramon. Without going into too much detail, there are set, fixed events in time that cannot be changed and the first Xenomorph attack is one of these,” he pauses, formulating his next thoughts. “As for jumping forward, it’s not something we can do anymore. It’s not that we aren’t capable, but more that time is… shall we say _fragile_ and long ago we learned the repercussions of traveling forward and inadvertently affecting the timeline.”

Captain Hunter explains further. “If you wish to know more, I’ll be happy to talk to you personally, but the JSA has issued a ban on traveling forward and trust me when I say that it’s in the best interest of our entire world. Timequakes. Ruptures. Line shattering. All of _that_ is what we would look forward to jumping forward. Sure, we might prevent an attack, but cracking the universe in half in the process would get us nowhere. Does that answer your question, Mr. Ramon?”

Cisco can do nothing but nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Pairs’ separate cabins on the _Waverider_ are remarkably roomy. There are two beds that can be bunked or lofted, much like a typical dormitory back on Central’s campus. Barry and Cisco choose to bunk their beds and Barry claims the top. Cisco takes the bottom without issue because he gets up in the middle of the night due to frequent nightmares, so it works out for the both of them.

There are drawers built into the walls—one for each of them—that can hold far more than Barry and Cisco both possess at the moment. There are also closets that can glide open on command next to a sliding door that leads to a small bathroom that’s separate from their room. Their few belongings hardly fill a drawer each, though the drawers will soon be filled if rumors about the Fabricator are true. They hang their suits in their respective closets and Barry picks up his sheets.

“Hey, Cisco?” Barry calls. “I can make the beds if you want,” he makes a few _nyoom_ noises just in case Cisco doesn’t get his drift.

The other man looks nothing but relieved, having not looked forward to making his own bed. “Fine by me, man. Thanks,” he hands over the standard-issue white sheets and takes a few steps back in preparation. As expected, the room is quickly assaulted by yellow lightning and after the storm passes, their beds are immaculately made.

“You’d run the best house-cleaning service in the entire universe,” Cisco says, awestruck as usual. “Really, you’d make bank if you only worked _one_ day a year.”

Barry laughs. “I’m more of the ‘become a CSI and get all my reports done by breakfast’ type of speedster,” he flashes up to his bunk.

“That works too,” Cisco acknowledges and then takes in the whole room again, amazed that it’s _theirs._ “Ever thought about being a vigilante? You could just snatch criminals and dump them right in prison.”

“I couldn’t do _that._ They need a trial first,” Barry counters.

“You could _flash_ them to a police station then?” Cisco tries to correct.

“Maybe,” Barry contemplates. “It might not be a bad idea then. I mean I do have a suit with a mask...”

Cisco finally turns around. “You’d need a sidekick, right? Every good hero needs a sidekick.”

“No, I don’t think I would,” Barry says and Cisco’s face _falls._ “But I wouldn’t mind having a partner—” Cisco cracks a bright smile. “—maybe someone who could blast things with vibrational powers—” Cisco walks closer to where Barry sits on the bed. “—they’d have to have super high Nexus-Compatibility for when we have to break into a high security building for the greater good…”

Cisco is now standing before Barry, positively _giddy_ and so excited over a _hypothetical_ situation that a part of Barry warms.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to any of this. The _Waverider,_ the fact we’re basically in _space,_ your speed…” Cisco trails off.

“I think it’s going to be like that for a while,” Barry hops down to the ground, hitting it gracefully. After mastering the art of running up the sides of buildings—and he already misses doing that—jumping from a top bunk isn’t that difficult. “Do you think I can _really_ use my speed here? I get antsy when I can’t run.”

Cisco thinks for a moment. “I’m going to be using my powers and we have to train together. I’m assuming they’ll have some way for you to exercise your legs. Just ask either of the Captains when we see them next.”

Barry nods. “I’m surprised they didn’t give us restrictions on using our powers.”

“I think they just want us to use our heads. We’re adults, after all,” Cisco rests on his own bunk and Barry settles next to him, their legs touching. “I mean, just don’t phase through the walls of the ship I guess? I don’t know what would happen if you ended up _out there,_ ” Cisco points his thumb to the door to their room to reference the outside of the _Waverider,_ even if the hatches aren’t immediately beyond their doors. “But something tells me you wouldn’t…stand a good chance at surviving.”

“If I forget my keys, all bets are off.”

“Actually, Mr. Allen,” Tess says suddenly. “The doors are opened automatically whenever your presence is detected. I control the doors, no keys needed.”

Tess is going to be an _interesting_ addition to their lives.

“Dude, she’s always listening,” Cisco says between laughs. “That was awesome. Like, she’s the incarnation of ‘if walls could talk’,” Any further words are stifled by further laughter and Barry gives up any hope of talking to Cisco for the next few minutes.

_Always listening…_

Barry catalogues the thought for later, grabs Cisco’s still-laughing self, and sets off to find food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fabricator turns out to be the coolest fucking thing ever.

Every other Pair is there, fabricating salads and chicken with rice dishes, but Barry and Cisco—as usual—have to be _different._ So, of course, Cisco is exploiting the Fabricator for everything it’s worth.

“Barry, this can make me _Big Belly Burger Fries,_ man!” Cisco exclaims, watching while the Fabricator _prints_ the food for him, complete with the unique chili sauce and steaming cheese that are standard of the dish. “Oh baby, come to papa,” Cisco’s eyes are almost lustful when he grabs the hot plate of fries from the machine and holds them close to himself. “Right back where you belong,” Cisco eats a fry and it’s everything he remembers.

“You have to eat a _little_ healthier,” Lisa Snart pops up from behind him. She’s munching on carrots and ranch, the polar opposite of Cisco’s fries. He automatically feels the need to protect them from Lisa and her carrot-wielding ways.

“I’m sure we do,” Barry speaks for Cisco. “But for now we can enjoy our earthly delights before our diet regimes are so strictly controlled.”

Cisco, on the other hand, is still focused on Lisa. “Just curious, rumor has it—” with _rumor_ being that Cisco had been able to put two and two together. “—that you’re Lieutenant Snart’s younger sister,” Cisco dramatically eats a fry.

Lisa dramatically bites a carrot in response. “Lenny’s my brother, yes,” She confirms, amused when Cisco’s eyebrows rise upon hearing her brother’s nickname. “What’s it to ya?”

“Nothing, just curious,” Cisco answers quickly and honestly and goes back to eating his fries. He hurriedly rushes over to sit with Barry, who’d fabricated a Big Belly Triple Triple. “I was right.”

“About?” Barry asks.

“Lisa,” Cisco says quietly. “She’s Lieutenant Snart’s sister.”

“ _Seriously?”_ Barry leans down, hushing his voice.

Cisco nods. But before both of them can comment further, Lisa and Sam sit next to them, forcing Cisco and Barry to drop it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Day 4**

They’re introduced to Nexus training several days later. Dr. Stein pulls each Pair individually to explain his job, how it concerns the Pairs, and what the Pairs need to do.

“What do you all know about the Nexus and compatibility?” Dr. Stein pulls up Cisco and Barry’s training profiles on an oversized tablet. They’re in an all-purpose room in the _Waverider,_ sitting in the only three chairs in the room. There’s a table, but it’s pushed into a corner. “Your combined score is the highest we’ve ever seen,” Dr. Stein _almost_ sounds impressed. “But don’t get cocky.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it, Professor,” Barry says. Cisco doesn’t say anything, because having a perfect NC score speaks for itself.

“Well?” Dr. Stein looks to Cisco this time. “What do you know? I need to know where to start.”

Cisco describes what he does once he patches in. He explains the inner workings of his goggles and how they operate, finally ending on how he’d used them to communicate with Barry throughout their Paired Training. Barry adds on a short summary of how Barry and Cisco’s powers amplify each other and enhanced their Nexus-Compatibility.

These are all things that that Cisco and Barry are sure Dr. Stein already knows, but the professor doesn’t seem bored. Instead, he looks interested and is constantly nodding his head in approval.

“Brilliant!” Dr. Stein tells Barry and Cisco once they’d finished explaining. “You know more than most, so it shouldn’t be too hard to work with you. Tess!”

“Yes, Dr. Stein?” Tess answers.

“Display hologram forty-three dash five one.”

“Displaying hologram forty-three dash five one,” Tess echoes before loading up the three-dimensional image and projecting it across the entire room. Due to its placement, Cisco, Barry, and Dr. Stein are inside of the detailed hologram.

“Whoa,” Cisco says from under his breath, elbowing Barry in the side as if the other man doesn’t see what he’s seeing.

“What does this look like to you?” Dr. Stein asks.

The hologram is a large three-dimensional grid with intermittent pulses of light trailing down the X, Y, and Z axes. There are a few floating objects scattered about. It’s clearly electronic and looks exactly like—

“The Nexus,” Barry answers, sure he’s right. “It looks like the Nexus.”

“Exactly, good work Mr. Allen,” Dr. Stein whips out a presenter with a laser that has adjustable wavelengths so that he can point to different holographic objects in the three-dimensional space. The laser settles on a pulse and tracks it, the hologram adapting to move with it. The hologram shows a third person perspective of the event, and the pulse switches to another axis and then switches one more time to stop at a point. There, is the equation that—

Cisco catches on. “Is this my…”

Dr. Stein smiles and nods in acknowledgment. “This is a recording of your performance during the first task of your Paired Training Mr. Ramon.”

“I look pretty good,” Cisco watches as the hologram shows the solving of the equation—without seeing Cisco—and then sees the solution fly upwards.

“You do, yes,” Dr. Stein affirms. Cisco glows. “But there are a few jagged portions where you staggered and hesitated. Here,” The hologram rewinds, pauses and then rewinds again. “Here,” it happens again and then continues. “And here,” he finally finishes. “What happened?”

Cisco answers honestly. “Those delays happened when Gideon—my Nexus AI—was telling me someone else might be around. Barry was on the outside and my AI was telling me something troubling that almost compromised the mission.”

“…your Nexus AI?” Dr. Stein asks.

“Yeah, Nexus AI,” Cisco starts explaining and he’s a little perplexed. “I guess that isn’t considered normal here? Barry?” Cisco knows full well that Barry has a Nexus AI—an artificial intelligence that aids in navigation within the Nexus—but Cisco needs him to tell Dr. Stein.

Barry nods, automatically on Cisco’s wavelength. “Is it not for the Nexus-Compatible? I have one. It’s named Nora.”

Dr. Stein meets each of their gazes. “I knew some Switchers fashioned their own Nexus AIs, but I’ve only know of three who’ve actually done it.”

Barry and Cisco look at each other. “Well,” Cisco says. “How else are you supposed to navigate such a big realm so quickly?”

“Mr. Ramon, this is another reason why you patch in so rapidly. Although, your synesthesiatic response must be _terrible—”_

_“—_ it is,” Cisco confirms, not caring that he’s interrupting the professor. The synesthesia Cisco experiences while patching into the Nexus is less than ideal. More often than not it includes multiple instances of the phenomenon. In short, Cisco _hates_ his specific brand of synesthesiatic response, but the Nexus makes every disorienting nauseating second worth it.

The professor doesn’t seem to care that Cisco had interrupted him. “And you too, Mr. Allen, although you have speed in other areas as well,” Dr. Stein says. “See, now I have to restructure your Nexus training.”

“Nexus training?” Cisco points to himself and Barry. “What else is there to know? We both know how to patch in and fuzz out and we’re both _very_ good at it.”

Dr. Stein quirks a brow. “Ah, you are now?”

Cisco knows it’s a trap but replies anyway. “Yes…”

“ _Together?”_ Dr. Stein says.

Cisco doesn’t answer. Barry does, skepticism thick in his tone but needing to confirm his suspicions. “Well, not at the _same_ time because that’s not possible. Even if it was, the two of us couldn’t be remotely close to one another without risking fuzzing the other out,” Barry pauses, the scientist within him suddenly springing into life. “ _Is_ it possible, Dr. Stein?”

“With scores as high as both of yours are, you, ‘bet your ass it is’ as the kids would say,” the professor answers while adding appropriate air quotes.

“But there’s no way we could patch in _together,”_ Cisco says. “Our wavelengths would have to be nearly identical in order to do it in unison and ours aren’t—”

“—similar enough?” Dr. Stein finishes for him. Cisco lets it happen. “You two have Nexus-Compatibility scores within 5% of each other. According to my calculations, that’s within the acceptable range of being able to patch in together if my theory is correct. Any difference in base vibration won’t matter once you’re both synced with the vibrations in the Nexus. The important part is syncing up your vibrations _at the same time_ so you can successfully occupy the same space in the Nexus,” Dr. Stein takes a breath. _“_ Well, we think so at least.”

“You _think?”_ Cisco asks, excited by the prospect of patching in simultaneously with Barry but also cautious about entertaining the idea because he’s starting to get the idea that it hasn’t been tested yet. However, Cisco is currently on the adventure of a lifetime and what’s an adventure without a little spontaneity?

“We’ve never had anyone with scores as high as yours are before, let alone so close together. It’s just a theory I have with a few other of my colleagues back on Earth Prime,” Dr. Stein says. “You obviously don’t have to try if you don’t want to, but I’ve done the calculations—”

“—oh we’re trying,” Cisco cuts him off. “Right Barry?” Cisco mentally crosses his fingers that Barry will say yes. Fortunately, Luck is on his side because Barry, who has been sitting open mouthed for the last few minutes, finally says, “You bet your ass we are!”

Dr. Stein couldn’t be happier.

“So when do we start?” Cisco asks.

“Right now,” the professor says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Neither Barry nor Cisco expected Dr. Stein’s modifications to their Nexus Training to include a virtual reality headset without a single interaction with the Nexus.

Dr. Stein had already anticipated their protests. “I want to make sure you can work together before the two of you patch in. This will require a lot of coordination and you need to _practice_ first,” Dr. Stein explains. They’re in a room that’s outfitted with a Virtual Reality setup, compete with the sensors hung on the ceiling and ridiculous amounts of wiring. Barry and Cisco wear large VR headsets and hold the two motion controllers in their hands.

Cisco grumbles something inaudible and Barry aims to elbow him because he understood it. Predictably, he misses. The headsets are big and bulky and currently the screens aren’t showing anything, which leaves Barry and Cisco in an artificial darkness. All Barry can think about is how much he fucking hates the dark. He quickly decides that he’s going to tell Cisco about his fear of the dark as soon as possible because if power goes out on their deployment ship…

“We’re ready when you are, Professor,” Barry says, stifling his spiraling thoughts while trying to urge Stein to _hurry the fuck up already._

“I’m going to start you on simple course. The simulation is structured like the Nexus’s grid, so the idea is that the two of you need to move to the same coordinate together from the start. The Oculus Rift setup reasonably simulates movement in the Nexus even if it can’t replicate the ‘feel’ of it,” Dr. Stein explains, loading up the program. “Imagine it’s a ‘video game’. That might help.”

Ah, Dr. Stein is assuming Cisco and Barry play video games now.

He’s not wrong.

The course loads up in their headsets in a matter of seconds. Barry and Cisco are represented in the artificial world by small orbs of light that hover in a grid that’s clearly modeled after the Nexus itself. Once Barry and Cisco get the feel of the controls of the ‘game’, they both find it quite fun. However, they still want to rage quit within five minutes.

“On three, we’ll get on the line directly in front of me,” Cisco says.

“Sounds good,” Barry prepares himself.

“Okay, one, two, _three!”_ Cisco shouts in the room.

They grab different lines due to a matter of perspective and the game gives them a GAME OVER.

Cisco lifts up his headset and his eyes settle on a scribbling Dr. Stein. “Communication error. Don’t count that.”

“I’m counting everything, Mr. Ramon,” Dr. Stein says. “It’s my job.”

Cisco groans. “Restart the game, please?”

Dr. Stein finishes taking his notes and resets it.

This time around Barry and Cisco grab the right line, but they don’t do it in unison and they can’t keep up with each other long enough for the game to register success. Another GAME OVER.

“Have you tried _working_ together?” Dr. Stein asks, the barest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Cisco is _so_ not in the mood, barely reigning in his normal snappy replies and equally sarcastic references. Instead, he states the obvious.

“We do,” Cisco grits out. “We’re a _Pair.”_

Dr. Stein grows serious. “I know that, but you’re not working together _here_. You’re both trying to sync up grabbing lines at the same time, but neither of you are getting feedback off the other to do it properly.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Barry says, now irritated like Cisco.

“You two are thinking of this like you’re still two separate people _._ When you patch in together, the idea is that you’ll occupy the same space and in theory be momentarily fused into one entity,” Dr. Stein explains. “You need to move _with_ one another. You’re standing far apart even in this room. Get closer.”

“What?” Cisco says.

“ _Get closer to each other,_ ” Dr. Stein says. “Physically. Try touching shoulders. You’ll be more in sync if you can _feel_ when the other person moves.”

“Why didn’t you start with that?” Barry says after taking a few steps closer to Cisco.

“Because I thought you’d be smart enough to figure it out,” Dr. Stein shoots back.

In lieu of replying—because he recognizes that anything he says will get him nowhere—Barry angrily slaps on his headset and focuses on how warm Cisco is next to him. Cisco nudges his slightly and Barry returns the action.

“There’s delay with the controls,” Barry states after they fail again. “It’s taking me too long to get to the line and by the time I need to merge with Cisco he’s already gone.”

Cisco adds his own qualms to Barry’s. “And because _I_ can’t sense where Barry is in the space of the game—because I can’t _feel_ my surroundings like I normally do—I can’t regulate my speed,” Cisco brings up. “Why can’t we just try this in the _Nexus_ where we will actually be doing this?”

Dr. Stein is remarkably unfazed by the Pair’s apparent frustrations. “Because I can’t just hit game over and reset the Nexus. In addition, patching in repeatedly is taxing on _anyone’s_ psyche and I’d like to minimize that. If you can master this _simple_ course outside of the Nexus, you’ll be able to have some idea of what to do after you’ve patched in. Also we still don’t know what’s going to happen when you’re in there or if this is even _possible_ , so at least knowing _you two can work together_ will eliminate _that_ variable from the equation.”

The Pair doesn’t say anything immediately, feeling that they’re unable to reply. Dr. Stein’s logic is remarkably sound and leaves little room for argument. Additionally, the Pair is exhausted and doesn’t feel like countering the professor’s condescension. So, while Barry is rubbing away the dents in his forehead created by the headset, Cisco is contemplating whether or not to put his back on.

“How much more time do we have today?” Cisco asks, turning the equipment over in his hands to idly view it from different angles.

Dr. Stein glances at the top bar of his tablet screen. “About an hour. But you both have done plenty today if you want to stop,” the professor gives them enough time to take in his words before suggesting what he actually wants them to do. “Although, if you want to give it another go…”

Barry and Cisco, fueled by a new sense of determination, turn to each other, nod once, and put their headsets back on.

They don’t succeed until the next week. It takes constant practice during all training hours—eight for sleep, eight for training, and eight for miscellaneous tasks such as chores and eating—and leaves little time for any of the other _Waverider_ crew members to train them, but they get it done.

After they master the first, Dr. Stein moves them on to a more rigorous course and then demands that they master it without being in physical contact with one another.

It takes another two weeks to beat it.

After Barry and Cisco master most of Dr. Stein’s courses, he puts them in separate rooms with _no_ contact with one another either physical or otherwise. It causes Barry and Cisco to predict one another’s moves by sheer instinct alone and this too the Pair masters in due time. By the time Dr. Stein thinks they’re ready for patching into the Nexus and trying out his theory for real, Barry and Cisco have been on the _Waverider_ for three months.

~~~~~~~~~~

**Day 90**

“That was _exhausting_ ,” Cisco says, putting down his headset one final time. Dr. Stein is uploading their results elsewhere in the _Waverider_ and Barry walked into Cisco’s VR room the second their joint simulation had ended.

“Well we know how to move together now,” Barry says. “ _And_ I know all your Nexus moves,” Barry gyrates his hips and does a little dance, implying that knowing Cisco’s go-to moves means that he’s won something.

A smirk plasters itself across the Cisco’s face in response. “Not _all_ of them,” he corrects. “Vibe still has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, _Flash._ ”

Barry quirks a brow and puts his hands on his hips. “Oh really now?”

“Yeah, you just wait _,_ ” Cisco laughs. “But for now, I just want a nap.”

Dr. Stein steps back into the room, the doors opening and closing quietly. “You have my permission, Mr. Ramon,” Dr. Stein tells them happily. “I’m proud of both of you.” Cisco and Barry glow at that and it’s freeing to know Dr. Stein is, in fact, capable of praising them.

“Thank you,” Cisco bows his head once and heads towards the door. It opens. “Barry?”

“Already behind you.”

The Pair leaves the virtual reality room half-asleep, and when they get to their room, Cisco lets Barry stay with him in his bed because Barry doesn’t feel like climbing up to his bunk.

It takes less than a second for both of them to fall into blissful unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Dr. Stein sends off Barry and Cisco’s results to Dr. Thawne and carefully schedules a video call.

“I see. I see,” Dr. Thawne scrolls through the results on his tablet, his ombre glasses perched on the end of his nose. “They’re performing exactly as I’d expected they would. Have you tested my theory?”

“We’re on track for first Nexus attempts within a few weeks,” Dr. Stein informs. “I’m almost finished performing final optimizations.”

“Perfect,” Dr. Thawne sets down his tablet and removes his glasses, setting them down on the table. “Make sure they’re able to patch in and navigate together successfully. I don’t care what it takes or how hard you have to push them, but they _have_ to master that skill,” Dr. Thawne levels his gaze with Dr. Stein. “Because I have great plans for them,” he clasps his hands together. “And they’re going to be _wonderful._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: "Million Dollars But..." is a concept that [Rooster Teeth](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzH3iADRIq1IJlIXjfNgTpA) came up with and they do little shorts with people asking questions and I think they're funny. I'd also just finished watching a few before writing this chapter, so... yeah. If you caught the reference without me telling you just now, I've got a theoretical prize banana waiting for you. 
> 
> Until next time.
> 
> <3


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